A founding member of the Free West Papua Movement, Tan Sen Thay, has died in the Netherlands.

Tan Sen was an integral figure in the independence movement that developed in West Papua as part of the struggle against Indonesian rule, once Dutch colonial rule was replaced in the 1960s.

Jayapura – The West Papua National Committee (KNPB) is urging the Papua regional police and the Papua chief public prosecutor to immediately release Papuan activist Victor F Yeimo because there is no legal basis for his detention and his health has been deteriorating since his arrest on May 9.

Jayapura – Lawyer and human rights activist Veronica Koman has spoken out about the worsening health of Papua activist Victor F Yeimo who has being detained at the Mobile Brigade command headquarters detention centre (Rutan Mako Brimob) for the last three months.

Theo Kelen, Keerom – For Bertho, David, and Yunitha, going to school takes a lot of struggle, literally. They live in Sawanawa Village, Arso District, 15 kilometers from the city center of Arso. And they study at the YPPK St. Petrus Ubiyau Elementary School, which is located in the Ubiyau Village, five kilometers from Sawanawa.

Hengky Yeimo, Jayapura – Local governments in Papua – such as the Yapen Islands and Puncak administrations – say they are continuing to promote the benefits of covid-19 vaccines to indigenous Papuans as hoaxes and distrust from local people towards the Indonesian government has increased low vaccination rates.

New Guinea, the world's largest tropical island, is also the most floristically diverse island in the world. However, the rich forests of the island, particularly those in the Western half, are understudied and threatened. Researchers examined satellite data on this half to determine annual forest loss, road development and plantation expansion.

A video showing church leaders in Mimika, Papua burning masks and declaring they do not believe in COVID-19 and its vaccines are making national headlines in Indonesia, but a local official said today that the controversial scene has been taken out of context.

It has been reported that the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders are meeting virtually on the 6 August.

AWPA urges Prime Minister Scott Morrison (as leader of a PIF country) to urge Jakarta to allow a PIF fact-finding mission to West Papua to investigate the human rights situation in the territory.

David Robie – It is open season again for Indonesian trolls targeting Asia Pacific Report and other media with fake news and disinformation dispatches in a crude attempt to gloss over human rights violations.

Jakarta – The director of the Bali Legal Aid Foundation (LBH), Ni Kadek Vany Primaliraning, has been reported to the Bali regional police for treason for allegedly facilitating a mass action by Papuan activists.

Mark Bowling – The Prime Minister is being urged to support action on human rights violations in West Papua when he meets with Pacific Islands Forum leaders this week.

Jakarta – After chairing a Cabinet ministers meeting on July 13, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said the 20th National Games (PON) in Papua would go ahead as scheduled from Oct. 2 to 15. The subsequent National Paralympic Games are then to be held from Nov. 2 to 15.

The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) has called on the international community to immediately suspend Indonesia from the UN Human Rights Council over a shocking assault on a young deaf indigenous Papuan that has been likened to the George Floyd tragedy in the United States.

Johnny Blades – As with much of Indonesia, the country's eastern-most provinces of Papua and West Papua are struggling to contain the spread of Covid-19, with the Delta variant on the loose.

Egi Adyatama, Maudey K. Setyakusuma (Intern), Jakarta – Violent acts against a Papuan was again caught on camera, on Wednesday, July 28. This time, two police officers caught on camera assaulting a resident in the back of a truck by hitting the victim's head twice.

TAPOL strongly condemns the conduct of two airforce personnel who severely beat a disabled man, Steven Yadohamang, in Merauke, West Papua province, on 27 July 2021. The incident, which has been widely shared on social media, shows the two personnel beating up a man and crushing his body into the ground and stamping on his head.

Yamin Kogoya – Shocking video footage showing a brutal and inhumane assault on a deaf Papuan teenager named Steven has emerged from the Merauke region of Papua and sparked outrage.

This assault occurred on Monday, July 26, 2021, around Jalan Raya Mandala, Merauke (Jubi, July 27).

Ronna Nirmala, Jakarta – The Indonesian Air Force fired two commanders in the troubled Papua region on Wednesday after a widely shared video showing military police roughing up a deaf Papuan man caused a public outcry and drew condemnation from the president's office.

Victor Mambor, Jayapura – Two air force military police have reportedly racially tortured an 18-year-old Papuan in Merauke on Monday, July 26, 2021. The victim, named Steven, has a speech disability but was mistaken as being drunk and the soldiers blatantly slammed him and stepped on his head.

Friski Riana, Jakarta – The Papuan advocacy team member Michael Himan urged President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to apologize for a brutal act committed by the Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU) members against a Papuan. "We urge President Joko Widowo as the supreme military commander to immediately issue an apology," Michael said in his statement on Tuesday, July 27.

Egi Adyatama, Maudey K. Setyakusuma, Jakarta – The National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) strongly condemns the actions of two members of the Indonesian Air Force who abused a resident of Merauke, Papua. The victim, who is known to have special needs, was being pinned as well as stepped on his head.

Kate Lamb and Agustinus Costa, Jakarta – The Indonesian government has apologised for the actions of two air force officers it said used "excessive force" to pin down the head of a deaf, indigenous Papuan man after a video of the incident was shared online, drawing widespread condemnation.

Jakarta – The actions of an air force (TNI-AU) military police officer who stepped on the head of a Papuan civilian has been slammed by human rights organisations.

The incident occurred in Merauke on the afternoon of July 16 when two air force officers were arresting a civilian who was allegedly intoxicated – according to the air force's version of events.

Sebastian Strangio – On July 15, Indonesia's parliament voted to revise and extend for 20 years the Special Autonomy Law for the provinces of Papua and West Papua. The move was greeted by protests in the easternmost region of the archipelago, where a separatist insurgency has rumbled since the 1960s. Dr.

Ronna Nirmala, Jakarta – Indonesian police arrested a Papuan separatist leader who was on the run after he escaped from a prison in Papua with several others in 2016, while serving a life sentence for the killings of three police officers, officials said Friday.

Victor Mambor, Jayapura – Civilian Yosep Samogoi (26) has been allegedly shot by an Indonesian soldier named Syarifudin of the 1707-07/Kepi Subdistrict Military Command on Friday, July 16, 2021 in Kanami Village, Mappi Regency.

Maghvira Arzaq Karima, Maudey K. Setyakusuma (Intern), Jakarta – The number of Covid-19 positive cases in Indonesia has drastically increased, including in the Papua Province. The latest data released in the official website covid19.papua.go.idon July 22, shows that to date, there are 29,047 confirmed Covid cases in Indonesia's easternmost province.

Agustinus Beo Da Costa – Hospitals in Indonesia's easternmost region of Papua are nearing full capacity amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, with health officials bracing for the full impact of the virulent Delta variant on one of the country's least-developed areas.

Jayapura – Hospitals in Papua are nearing full capacity amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, with health officials bracing for the full impact of the virulent Delta variant on one of the country's least-developed areas.

Jakarta – The unanimous House of Representatives decision last week to endorse the revised Papuan Special Autonomy Law shows, yet again, the propensity of the Jakarta elite to dictate the future of the territory, despite persistent calls to honor local demands.

A pro-independence movement in West Papua has appealed to several Western countries – including New Zealand – to provide urgent humanitarian help by supplying covid vaccines directly to the Papuans to cope with the "double crisis" in the Indonesian-ruled region.

Tabloid Jubi, Jayapura – The West Papuan Council of Churches (WPCC) has condemned the Indonesian government's Special Autonomy (Otsus) law ratified by the Jakarta parliament last week, describing it as racist and warning that Papuans could "become extinct".

Sebastian Strangio – Protests have once again flared in Indonesia's Papua region following last week's renewal and amendment of a Special Autonomy Law that local activists say will increase Jakarta's grip over the restive region.

Jayapura – A number of demonstrators from the People's Front Against Special Autonomy Chapter II were reportedly arrested and taken to the Sorong city municipal police headquarters when they wanted to hold a peaceful demonstration in front of the Sorong Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) on Monday July 19.

A New Zealand explorer who trekked in West Papua before Indonesian rule says he's saddened to see what colonisation has done to the region's indigenous people.

Philip Temple, who is also a renowned author, was part of a small group who made the first recorded ascent of the Carstensz Pyramid in West Papua in 1962 before Dutch colonial rule ended.

Two rights groups have condemned the renewal of the special autonomy law in Papua and say it further erodes critical aspects of decentralization and autonomy in the region.

Jakarta – As many as 714,066 Papuans and 112 organisations which are part of the Papuan People's Petition (PRP) are said to reject the enactment into law of revisions to Law Number 21/2001 on Papua Special Autonomy (Otsus). They believe that special autonomy is not the answer to resolving the problems in the land of Papua.

Jayapura, Jubi – The West Papuan Council of Church (WPCC) has spoken in an online forum organized by the International Coalition for Papua (ICP) on Wednesday, July 14, 2021, asking the Pacific and international community to stop the Indonesian government's racism toward the West Papuan people, which is perpetuated by the government-designed Special Autonomy (Otsus) Law planned to be

Jayapura, Jubi – The Indonesia House of Representatives has passed the revised Special Autonomy (Otsus) Bill into law despite continuous protests from the Papuan people rejecting the extension of the special autonomy status.

Johnny Blades – Indonesia's House of Representatives has passed a bill that is expected to reshape the future administration of West Papua.

The Revision of the Special Autonomy Law for the provinces of Papua and West Papua was ratified by Indonesian lawmakers despite widespread opposition by Papuans who have been calling instead for an independence referendum.

Jakarta – Lawyer and Papua advocate Veronica Koman has criticised the House of Representatives (DPR) and the government for ratifying the Special Autonomy (Otsus) Law on Papua, saying that the law only represents the interests of the government.

Agus Pabika, Jayapura – As many as 40 protesters opposing the extension of Papua special autonomy at the House of Representatives (DPR) building in Jakarta were arrested by police and taken away in two crowd control vehicles to the Metro Jaya regional police headquarters.

Antara, Jakarta – The Social Affairs Ministry explained the controversial remark by Minister Tri Rismaharini, or more known as Risma, about threatening to transfer state civil apparatus or ASN to Papua.

Fresh demonstrations by West Papuans have again been stopped by armed Indonesian police who arrested dozens of people.

The demonstrations are the latest in a series of protests by West Papuan students, churches and customary representatives opposed to the Indonesian government's plans to extend Special Autonomy provisions in the two Papuan provinces.

Agus Pabika, Jayapura – Earlier this morning on Thursday July 15 Papuan students from the Papua People's and Student Front held a peaceful rally at the House of Representatives (DPR) building in Senayan, Jakarta, rejected the extension of special autonomy (Otsus) and new autonomous regions anywhere in the land of Papua.

HA Kapisa and Rahmad Nasution in Manokwari, West Papua – Indonesian police have begun tightening entry controls in Manokwari district and Sorong city as part of the enforcement of an emergency partial lockdown this week.

Jakarta – Around 23 Cendrawasih University (Uncen) students at several different locations were arrested by police when they held a protest action on Tuesday July 14 opposing the extension of special autonomy in Papua.

We have received urgent information from inside West Papua: students peacefully demonstrating against Indonesia's imposition of a second 'Special Autonomy' bill have been harassed, beaten and arrested by police at the University of Cendrawasih in Jayapura today.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – A Catholic priest has found himself in hot water with Papuans seeking independence by speaking out in favor of plans that would keep the restive region under Indonesian rule.

Konradus Epa, Jakarta – Churches and rights groups have accused Indonesian police of illegally detaining Victor Yeimo, the international spokesman for the pro-independence West Papua National Committee (KNBP), and called for his immediate release.